tennis betting

XXV Italiacom Open Palermo Tennis Betting Info
The hard-court US swing of the WTA season is kicking off in California this week, but some of the players on the Tour have opted to stay in Europe. The Olympics will be coming up in a couple of weeks, but in between the thrills of Wimbledon and the Olympiad, there is still some good tennis betting around to enjoy. This is a clay court event and therefore you can look for some specialists to rise to the occasion. That is what makes this field, although not a particularly strong one in terms of ranking, very interesting.

XXV Italiacom Open Palermo Tennis Betting Defending Champion
Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues jumped to the fore as the WTA’s leading clay court title holder after winning here last year She beat out Polona Hercog last year and she was looking a pretty inspired player. She looked like she was enjoying herself here last year, and Garrigues is a clay court specialist and therefore makes for some good value in your Italiacom Open Palermo tennis betting. Strangely though we haven’t even seen the best of her on clay this season, making nothing better than the quarter finals She lost out in the second round of Wimbledon as well, and isn’t carrying great form. She will be happier with her game on clay, but the defending champion is trading out at 10/1 with online bookmaker Boylesports. However, she has won here five times before and holds a 32-3 match record in Palermo. Strong history.

XXV Italiacom Open Palermo Tennis Betting Favourite
Going as the favourite this week is diminutive Italian Sara Errani. Not only is she playing on home soil, and will have the crowds behind her, she has been phenomenal on clay this season. She really is the stand out player in the crowd and she has won here before as well. She lifted the title in 2008 and failed to defend her title losing in the final in 2009. What will make her a strong contender is that she notched up a fantastic 16 match clay court winning streak earlier in the season, and she made it to the final of the French Open at Roland Garros on clay. She goes at top seed in Palermo, but was destroyed in the third round of Wimbledon when she became the first woman in the Open era to fail to record a single point during in a set as she crashed to Yaroslava Shvedova. She’s better than that, way better than that on clay. Would face Medina Garrigues in the semi final.

Other Contenders
Germany’s Julia Goerges usually shows up well on clay because she has good footwork and the game suited to the red stuff. Huge potential but not quite consistent enough. She seems to be a big momentum player, so if she gets off to a strong start then she should be able to roll along nicely in Palermo. She is looking for a bit of form though, and she seems to be having difficulty stepping up a level to fulfil her potential. Lost in the third round of Wimbledon after allowing Ana Ivanovic to battle back and beat here. She however has a pretty good draw ahead of her and shouldn’t be challenged until the quarters. Decent chance.

Roberto Vinci, another Italian, small and powerful like Errani, makes for great value here. In the bottom half of the draw as second seed and like her compatriot, is superb on clay. She has also had a decent run to the fourth round of Wimbledon. However, she doesn’t have quite the potency of Errani but is still more than enough of a handful to make a strong charge here. The draw and the home support will certainly help her.

Best Outside Bet
Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro is the hit and miss outside bet for this one. A much better clay court player than on any other surface, and she did reach the final of Estoril earlier in the season on clay. Not too bad of a draw, but Roberta Vinci is a likely quarter final opponent. Needs to be at the top of her game, looks the best of the outside shots at a price of 10/1 with online bookmaker Boylesports.

Latest XXV Italiacom Open Palermo Tennis Betting Prices at Boylesports
Sara Errani 7/4, Julia Goerges 4/1, Roberta Vinci, Anabel Median Garrigues 10/1, Carla Suarez Navarro 10/1, Alice Cornet 18/1, Irina Camelia Begu 20/1, Silvia Soler Espinosa 20/1, Polona Hercog 25/1, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 25/1

Online Bookmaker Promotion
The highly rated online bookmaker Bet365 are showing live streams from WTA Palermo this week. So their customers can get a little closer to the action by enjoying live in play betting and live streams. Online bookmaker Bet356 offer a free £200 bet for new customers registering an account. The bookie will match the value of your first deposit on a new account, with a 100% bonus. This means that on your new Bet365 account, you can get £200 worth of free bets, as they match your initial deposit.

WTA Stanford Bank of the West Classic Stanford Tennis Betting Info
With the flourish of Wimbledon having passed us by, the next bit target on the list of the top tennis stars in the world is going to be the Olympic Games. Most of the big stars are taking a break after the SW19 Grand Slam action, and while the Olympics of course will be back on grass, the hard-court swing of the of US starts out in Stanford, California this week. Big history here as this is the longest running all-women tennis tournament in the world. There has been an illustrious list of winners here in the past and while the field is not all that deep this year, there are some good names to look out for.

WTA Stanford Bank of the West Classic Stanford Tennis Betting Favourite
Serena Williams beat Marion Bartoli here last year in the final, and here, fresh off her Wimbledon victory on Saturday, the American is back and gunning for more glory. There was a tougher field in operation here last year as well, but Williams powered here way through untroubled. She looks back to her dominant best, picking up her 5th Wimbledon title and now she has shot back up to number four in the world. Nothing too much ahead in the draw to worry about for her, so it may be a question of fitness levels after her long fortnight at Wimbledon. But her hitting power really get her out of most situations and anything less than a semi appearance at Stanford would go down as failure. Naturally she goes as favourite at a price of 3/4 with online bookmaker Bet Victor.

Other Contenders
Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli is a good fit for the tournament have been runner in 2008 and 2011, and having won the title in 2009. So she has good history here. The bubbly player, who is never short of energy, has had a very quiet season though. It looked as if last year she was just building up huge momentum to be a genuine Grand Slam contender as we was trading punches with the best in the game very well. However, that has all fallen a way a bit, not helped by injury and we just haven’t seen the clinical side of her for a long time, which is a shame because she is a quality player when she brings her A game. Has the game to hit the semi’s here, but confidence does not look too high.

Dominika Cibulkova hit the semi finals here last year and therefore will be worth a look. The young Slovakian was undone by Marion Bartoli there, but you would bank on her being the better player in California this week Had a surprising first round exit from Wimbledon which she will have been disappointed about, because she has been in good form this season. A very strong player and in another year or so, she should be a very solid top ten player (she is 13th in the world at the moment). She is growing all the time. The big problem for Cibulkova is that she will run into Williams in the semi finals, so that puts her at a disadvantage, but if Williams is suffering any tiredness and slips up, the Cibulkova should be the one to capitalise

Jelena Jankovic, like Cibulkova needs to pick herself up from a Wimbledon first round exit. Like Marion Bartoli, she has hit nowhere the kind of standards that she was in being a former world number one. The last 18 months or so haven’t been too good to Jankovic, but she has experience to call upon. She went to the final of Birmingham at the start of June in a similar quality field and being in the easier bottom half of the draw for Stanford, could have a chance to put a good tournament together. She should be well rested after her Wimbledon exit against Kim Clijsters.

Best Outside Bet
Heather Watson. Yes, going for the young Brit here who has reached a new ranking high of 79 after reaching the third round of Wimbledon. She is in the bottom half of the draw, and could end up with an easy run if Bartoli crashes early. A long shot to go all the way and win it, but could have a very strong quarter. All the way out 50/1, but look for a good couple of wins on her way to the quarters, where she could meet a below par Bartoli.

Latest WTA Stanford Bank of the West Classic Stanford Tennis Betting Prices at Bet Victor
Serena Williams ¾, Marion Bartoli 5/4, Dominika Cibulkova 11/2, Marina Erakovic 10/1, Chanelle Scheepers 20/1, Jelena Jankovic 20/1, Sloane Stephens 20/1, Heather Watson 50/1

Online Bookmaker Promotion
Online bookmaker Bet Victor run a great tennis betting promotion which is worth dipping into throughout the 2012 season. Place a match bet on any match from the main draw of an ATP or WTA event, and if your selection loses the match in a final set tie break, then you will get your lost stake back as a free bet. So this gives you some nice coverage on your tennis betting throughout the season, should your match selection lose in a cruel way in a final set tie break. Online bookmaker Bet Victor offer a free £25 bet for new customers registering an account. The bookie will match the value of your first stake on a new account, up to the maximum value of £25, with a free bet.

It is the old head of Serena Williams v Agnieszka Radwanska betting for the final of the Women’s Wimbledon draw on Saturday. Williams fired off a personal best of 24 aces to power her way past world number two Victoria Azarenka in the semi finals. Williams was in prime form throughout the first set, powering winners and barely putting a foot wrong. Azarenka fought back a little in the second, but the hard work which Williams has been putting in to get back to the top of her game looks as if it is paying off at the moment. The four time Wimbledon champion is now red hot favourite to power her way to another title, and that keyword is going to be power. When she is on song, highlighted by her great semi final show against one of the best players on the Tour, she is unstoppable because of the timing of her power. Although she has had her struggles against lower ranked players this season, when it has come to matching up against the best in the world, well it seems like those occasions are really what brings the best out of Serena Williams. This will be her 18^th Grand Slam final, and she has taken the title on 13 of those occasions before.

The American will face off against Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska. This will be the world number three’s first ever visit to a Grand Slam final, and it is another big step forward in a fantastic season for her. The 23 year was the only player in the top fifteen women in the world to have never made it to the semi final of a Grand Slam before, so now she has set that record straight. She did a very solid job of beating one of the rapidly rising stars of the game, Angelique Kerber in the semi final, and it was a question of composure and control after a slowish start from the Pole. What Radwanska did well was keep her game together on the serve and she only played very smart, percentage tennis in keeping her errors low. There is an extra big incentive at stake for Radwanska, because if she wins, then she will be crowned the new world number one, while defeat will still give her her career high of number two ranking. Radwanska is going to need all of her intelligence and craft to take down Serena Williams, because there is going to be a bit of a mismatch in power.

For Serena Williams v Agnieszka Radwanska betting there isn’t much head to head to look at. The two women have only played each other twice before, and both times were wins for Williams way back in 2008. One of them was at the quarter finals at Wimbledon incidentally, when Radwanska was outside of the top ten players in the world. In terms of titles this year, Radwanska has won three compared to the two Williams has picked up. Radwanska has a 38/9 match record for 2012, while Williams has 27/3.

Serena Williams v Agnieszka Radwanska betting odds at Bet Victor
Williams 1/6, Radwanska 9/2

Online bookmaker Bet Victor run a great tennis betting promotion which is worth dipping into throughout the 2012 season. Place a match bet on any match from the main draw of an ATP or WTA event, and if your selection loses the match in a final set tie break, then you will get your lost stake back as a free bet. So this gives you some nice coverage on your tennis betting throughout the season, should your match selection lose in a cruel way in a final set tie break. Online bookmaker Bet Victor offer a free £25 bet for new customers registering an account. The bookie will match the value of your first stake on a new account, up to the maximum value of £25, with a free bet.

You can be assured that somewhere in the world there is a sporting event happening. What does that mean? Sports betting options of course, even if the event is well out of your time zone, your online bookmaker will be covering it! Don’t miss out on any profit because you weren’t aware of what was coming up. Simply stay in touch with all of the top tournament and league action from the across the world of sport right here. From the Euro 2012 in Poland/Ukraine to Tennis in Wimbledon and more, you can find details of all the forthcoming action right here.

Weekly sports betting calendar 25th June- 2nd July 2012

Date	Sport	Org.	Venue	Event
8Jun-1 Jul		UEFA	Poland / Ukraine	Euro 2012
25Jun-8 Jul		ATP	London	Wimbledon
25Jun-7 Jul		WTA	London	Wimbledon
30Jun-22 Jul		UCI	France	Tour de France
27Jun-1 Jul		EA	Helsiniki	European Athletic Championships

WTA AEGON International Tennis Betting Info
Sunny Eastbourne in England is the scene of the the AEGON Open where there is a whole lot of quality heading the field. Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam of the season starts next week and therefore, this will be the last chance of a warm up for the players involved here. The big, big guns are not in attendance, but there is a great crop of quality to look at in your betting options. We’re not going to get carried away and look at British interest on home soil here, but it should be a pretty competitive week ahead of Wimbledon.

WTA AEGON International Tennis Betting Defending Champion
It was the plucky French star Marion Bartoli who waltzed to glory on the grass at Eastbourne last season. She had a great run at the even, beating Victoria Azarenka, Sam Stosur and then Petra Kvitova in the final. She is back to defend her title, and the bubbly Bartoli will be looking to pick her form back up. She was strong in the first half of the season, but was hugely disappointing during the clay court swing of the season. She hasn’t been out since Roland Garros and the French Open, so we’ll get to see how she transitions to grass. She is a fantastic player, so energetic and reaches very deep for her points. You’re not backing her on current form, but tournament history from last year. That is why she is trading at 8/1 with online bookmaker Bet365.

WTA AEGON International Tennis Betting Favourite
Tall, left handed Czech Petra Kvitova goes off as favourite on the grass for Eastbourne. You will remember that Kvitova broke through to the Grand Slam winners club at Wimbledon last season, when she was in unstoppable form. Hopefully we will get to see some of those kind of levels from her over the next few weeks. Kvitova has had her season hampered by injury just a little bit, but she has been slowly improving all the way. She had a good run on clay, reaching the semi finals of the French Open, losing there to Maria Sharapova. Kvitova has all the tools in her arsenal to win tournaments like this. She has been working towards the top of her game now and if she is fully fit and match sharp, which she is looking at the moment, then she is going to be worth a punt here and rightly favourite at 6/4 with online bookmaker Bet365.

Other Contenders
Agnieszka Radwanska is back in action for the first time since Roland Garros. She didn’t go well there surprisingly, but she still has had one of the strongest seasons of all WTA Players. She should be a good fit for the grass at Eastbourne, the pace of the game will just be a little bit quicker to suit her mood. Radwanska is a quality act and the peak of her career right at the moment. Remarkably, there just hasn’t been any let up in the quality or consistency of her performances this season and she should be well rested for her first steps on grass this season. Great player, full of enthusiasm and touches of class at the moment, and should be in the mix of the final four.

Fallen former world number one Caroline Wozniacki, we need to see back winning titles. Completely anonymous through the clay court swing of the season, which was no great surprise really. It was a shame that the clay came, because she was just starting to find her feet on the hard court. She is pretty comfortable on grass and we could see a strong week from her. She needs one, she really needs to get her hands on a title so that her confidence can get back up to where it belongs. That is at the top of the game. So steady improvement in her game before clay, what can she do on the grass ahead of Wimbledon? She actually makes a decent prospect and would expect a final four appearance.

There are couple of other good names which you may want to look out for. Lucie Safarova is a leftie, who is very awkward to play against and is in decent enough form. Then there is the quality and experience of Daniela Hantuchova, who can surprise the big guns.

Best Outside Bet
The best outside bet at Eastbourne is going to be Germany’s Angelique Kerber. What a season she has had and there doesn’t seem to any signs of it slowing either. She was pretty solid on clay, and reached the quarters of Roland Garros. Kerber has grown in stature so much in 2012 and is really peaking at the moment. She has broken the top in the world this season and there just looks more to come from this very exciting, enterprising and energetic German. Well worth a punt to come through the field.

Latest WTA AEGON International Tennis Betting Prices at Bet365
Petra Kvitova 6/4, Agnieszka Radwanska, Caroline Wozniacki, Marion Bartoli 8/1, Angelique Kerber 15/2, Lucie Safarova, Daniela Hantuchova

Online Bookmaker Promotion
Online bookmaker Bet Victor run a great tennis betting promotion which is worth dipping into throughout the 2012 season. Place a match bet on any match from the main draw of an ATP or WTA event, and if your selection loses the match in a final set tie break, then you will get your lost stake back as a free bet. So this gives you some nice coverage on your tennis betting throughout the season, should your match selection lose in a cruel way in a final set tie break. Online bookmaker Bet Victor offer a free £25 bet for new customers registering an account. The bookie will match the value of your first stake on a new account, up to the maximum value of £25, with a free bet.

AEGON Championships Tennis Betting Info
This is pretty much just know as the form guide for Wimbledon, as players start to make their transition from the clay court swing of the season onto grass. The Queen’s club is a very popular location of course, and it gives British tennis fans a good look at some of the home grown talent. There is only one of the big four in attendance and that is Andy Murray, who is back to defend his title.

AEGON Championships Tennis Betting Defending Champion
Andy Murray has done very well at this event, and is setting his stall out to win Queens for the third time in four years. Clearly not a bad record then, and after falling to David Ferrer in the quarter finals of the French Open, and after having back problems at the Grand Slam, we should see a better Murray here. He is more suited to the grass than clay, that is for sure, and he will get more response from the ball on the quicker surface. Murray beat out Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final last year, being accused of showboating by the Frenchman. Top seed in the world and really should be back in the final here and gearing up for Wimbledon. Murray is priced at 13/8 with BetFred.

Online Bookmaker Promotion
Place a single bet on the outright market for the AEGON Championships, and if tournament favourite Andy Murray goes on to win the tournament you will get your lost stakes refunded. This applies to bets on the markets applied before Andy Murray plays his first match of the tournament, which will be on Wednesday. So head to BetFred and take advantage of this tennis betting promotion. Online bookmaker BetFred offer a free £50 bet for new customers registering an account.

Other Contenders
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga put on a great show here last year, and was the start of a good grass court season for him actually. Like Murray, the Frenchman was ousted of the French Open at the quarter final stage, but after reaching the final at Queens at the first attempt in 2011, he should be confident of having a strong run at the title. It is not a high quality field, and Tsonga is one of the best ones in it. Tsonga has one title to his name this season, earned right at the start of the season with a win in Doha. The final of Queens last year was the last time he and Murray met, and Murray holds a 5-1 head to head record over the Frenchman, including wins in both of their grass court meetings. So Tsonga makes a strong second favourite at a price of 5/2 with BetFred. Obviously in the other half of the draw to Murray, so we could see a repeat of last season’s final.

As mentioned, it is not a strong field in particular, but there are tricky players for the big guns to watch out for. Janko Tisparevic is a good, crafty player but the world number eight has never been past the third round. However, the Serbian is a much improved player over the last twelve months and a decent candidate given the depth of the field at Queens. Andy Roddick is the player in the field with the best record at Queens though, and is a four time winner of the event. The last time he won it was back in 2007, and while he is a great grass court player, Roddick has struggled over the last couple of years with both injury and form. Potential to pull of a shock, but overall is not as strong as he should be. There’s Marin Cilic and Feliciano Lopez both in the draw as well, with Cilic perhaps representing the stronger option of the two. They are both very good journeymen and capable of picking up lower tiered tournaments in fields like this, but it doesn’t happen often enough.

Best Outside Bet
Frenchman Gilles Simon, he had a decent clay court swing of the season, picking up a title. He has had his moments about top ranked players during his career, but ranked 13th in the world, his threats are not consistent enough. Solid player. Ranked 13th and could be a likely semi final opponent for Murray if they get that far.

Latest AEGON Championships Tennis Betting Prices at BetFred
Andy Murray 13/8, Jo Wilfred Tsonga 5/2, Janko Tipsarevic 10/1, Marin Cilic 10/1, Andy Roddick 16/1, Gilles Simon 201/, Ivo Karlovic 14/1, Feliciano Lopez 25/1, Sam Querrey 33/1

There is a great French Open Tennis betting promotion to be taken at popular online bookmaker Paddy Power. The bookie is offering some match coverage for the second Grand Slam of the season, the French Open, hosted at Roland Garros. Will all of the big stars be able to safely negotiate their way through the first week? Who will you be backing through the rounds? Well, if you back a player in match betting for the men’s draw, and your selection loses in the fifth set of the match, then Paddy Power will refund your lost stake as a free bet. This applies to all pre-match bets placed on a match at the French Open and the coverage on the bet is a wonderful £100. So you can bet with some insurance on your match betting, that if your selection loses in the fifth set, then you will get your lost stake refunded. The highly rated Paddy Power offer a free £50 bet for new customers opening an account with them. The bookie will match the value of your first stake on a new account with a free bet!

This coverage from Paddy Power could prove to be extremely valuable come the latter stages, as the big four will all be gunning hard for semi final spots. It is still early days in the French Open tennis betting, and still some decent value around. As expected, the main four of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray will be the favourites and anyone outside of those who pops up and wins, is really going to be doing it against all the odds. For someone to come from the outside and win this Grand Slam, it is going to take, most likely, victories over two of the top four players in the world and that is just incredibly unlikely. So what are the big options for your 2012 French Open Tennis betting? Here we profile the chances of the world’s top four.

Novak Djokovic 11/4 at Paddy Power
The Djoker has racked up the last three Grand Slam titles, and now goes for his fourth consecutive. He started off the year with a bang after lifting the Australian Open, however the gap which was between him and Rafael Nadal last season has definitely been closed. The win at Melbourne Park has been backed up with just one other title this season, a final victory over Andy Murray at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 in Miami. Surprisingly, after dominating so greatly last season, Djokovic has been beaten five times this season in a 30-5 match record, and perhaps importantly, he has suffered back to back defeats in clay court finals against Rafael Nadal Djokovic beat Nadal in the final of the Australian Open, but the Spaniard has hit back, beating the Serbian in Monte Carlo and Rome. Djokovic hasn’t been as prolific but should be in the semi finals at least, and realistically should be second favourite to Rafael Nadal.
Draw: Could face a tricky quarter final against home talent Jo Wilfried Tsonga, then would probably face Federer in the semi’s. It would either be Nadal or Murray most likely in the final then.

Rafael Nadal 8/13 at Paddy Power
The Spaniard is still the King of Clay and since his loss at the start of the year to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open, it wasn’t until the clay court swing of the season came around, that he burst back into life. It looked as if, just like last year, Nadal was going to be second best to Novak Djokovic this season. However, Nadal has looked sharp since stepping back onto clay, winning three of the last four he has entered (the exception being his round of 16 defeat on the heavily criticized new blue clay in Madrid). So he is the man of the moment on clay, and two of those three wins have come at the expense of Djokovic. Nadal is the defending Champion at Roland Garros and is favourite with his 16-1 match record on the surface this season. If he can lift the title again here this season, it will be for a record breaking seventh time. Nadal beat Roger Federer in the final of last season’s French Open. This is clay more than a strong possibility that the master will add to his clay titles. Remarkably, Nadal has a 45-1 match record at the French Open.
Draw: Nadal has the easiest quarter, with only 8th seed Janko Tipsarevic to worry about. Projected semi finalists would be Andy Murray or David Ferrer, then Federer/Djokovic for the final.

Roger Federer 7/1 at Paddy Power
It has been a resurgent season from Roger Federer, having earning four titles already this year. While others were faltering on the blue clay in Madrid, Federer battled his way to the title there, his most recent triumph. Federer has a 31-4 match record for the season, but lost to Novak Djokovic in the semi final of Rome recently. He has also lost to Nadal this season, in the semi finals of the Australian Open. But in general, Federer has looked right on top of his game this season and looks full of hunger. He hasn’t won a Grand Slam title since 2010 though, and he is naturally suited better to the US Open later in the year. Then again, Federer really excelled at Roland Garros last season and he will have drawn a lot of confidence from that. The Swiss superstar is aiming for his 17 Grand Slam title but for all of his career glory, has only won the French Open once, in 2009. He has come runner up on four other occasions.
Draw: Should be able to have a good run at the semi’s. Has 7th seed Tomas Berdych as a projected quarter final opponent, then it would be Djokovic in the semi’s.

Andy Murray 40/1 at Paddy Power
The Scot is still not showing any signs of being anything other than the outside shot of the big four to be honest. Murray has a 14-5 career record at Roland Garros, which isn’t great when stacked up against the other main guys here. Murray started the season off with a title win in Brisbane, and then reached the semi finals of the Australian Open where he lost in an epic match against Novak Djokovic which went to the wire. Murray has been in two finals since then, losing both of them, one against Federer and one against Djokovic. He is at his weakest on clay, and that has been reflected in his failure to make it to the semi finals in his three clay court tournaments this season, and was ousted by Richard Gasquet in the round of 16 in Rome most recently. He went well here last year, but is just not showing the kind of form that will take down a couple of other top four guys on his way to glory. Murray has just a 22-7 match record for the entire season and is being rolled over quite easily at the moment.
Draw: A lot of work to do, would meet clay court specialist David Ferrer in the quarter, then Nadal it the semi’s and then Djokovic/Federer in the final.

2012 French Open Tennis Betting Odds at Paddy Power
Rafael Nadal 8/13, Novak Djokovic 11/4, Roger Federer 7/1, Tomas Berdych 30/1, Juan Martin Del Potro 35/1, David Ferrer 40/1, Andy Murray 40/1

WTA Brussels Open Tennis Betting Info
With less than a week to go before the French Open, there are a couple of WTA event this week, but not a lot of the major players are out. This is good news largely, because it narrows down your tennis betting options in more limited fields. Out of Brussels and Strasbourg this week, the Brussels line up is for more interesting and there is actually a really nice competitive balance to it. There are just two top ten players in attendance, Agnieszka Radwanska and Marion Bartoli, but we should still be in for some great tennis.

WTA Brussels Open Tennis Betting Defending Champion
The Brussels defending champion is actually Caroline Wozniacki, who beat Peng Shaui in the final. However, the Dane is not back for the defence of her title, instead she is away fine tuning her preparations for Roland Garros. So we have no defending champion this week.

WTA Brussels Open Tennis Betting Favourite
Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska tops the bill in Brussels, which is naturally a clay court even just ahead of the French Open. This is a Premier Level event and she will be using this event as a confidence booster, because it all went wrong in Rome last week where she crashed out in the second round to Petra Cetkovska. That was a major blip on her record because Radwanska has been fantastic this season and is rightly the favourite in Belgium. Radwanska has two titles to her name this season, beating Maria Sharapova in the final of Miami in March, and taking out Julia Goerges in the final of Dubai. However, she has been knocked out of six tournaments by world number one Victoria Azarenka at either the quarter or semi final this season. Vika stopped her most recently in the semi finals of Stuttgart and Madrid, and the Pole will be happy that Azarenka isn’t around. She is the top player in the field and has been in terrific form throughout 2012. She may be happy that she got that anomaly out of her system last week, just allay any fears about complacency ahead of the Grand Slam. Great player, great athlete and the world number three is a good shot as favourite in Brussels. Radwanska is 6/4 favourite at Bet Victor.

Other Contenders
Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli is in the field and like Radwanska suffered a shock exit in the second round in Rome last week. Bartoli hasn’t quite gotten back to her very best this season after injury niggles, which is a shame because it is at tournaments like this where she should be charging hard. On top of her game, she is good enough for a Grand Slam, but just is not in her rhythm at the moment. This is likely to be nothing more than a confidence tournament for her, because she needs it.

So it may be worth skipping over Bartoli, who is trading as second favourite and look at Kaia Kanepi. The young Estonian started off the season with a bang, destroying the field in Brisbane with some of the best tennis we have seen on the WTA this year. She was away for a while after the Australian Open recovering from injury and is just warming up nicely again. She reached the quarter final of Copenhagen, before charging through to take the title in Estoril. Kanepi fell flat in Madrid at the beginning of May, and this is the first time we have seen her since then. So she should be coming out fresh and sharp, and has the game to take down the field here if her concentration is in the right place.

Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova is a rising star on the circuit with bags and bags of potential. She is still a bit hit and miss with her consistency though. We saw her in fine form in Barcelona, losing out in the final to Sara Errani, and after disappointing efforts in Stuttgart and Madrid, she bounced back in Rome where she made the quarter finals (albeit thanks to a walkover in the third round against Victoria Azarenka. Cibulkova is probably going to hit the next level sooner rather than later, just needs as much tennis as she can get. Like her fit for Brussels this week.

Best Outside Bet
We are going to plump for Romania’s Simona Halep. She exited Madrid and Rome after running into Venus Williams in the first rounds, but has had some good runs this season, like a quarter final in Barcelona and a semi final in Fes recently. Just into her twenties, there is still time for her to really make a big name for herself. She was one of the hottest young prospects around the ITF circuit and needs to mature in the WTA. There are promising signs of that and could be worth a look here.

Latest ATP Brussels Open Tennis Betting Prices at Bet Victor
Agnieszka Radwanska 6/4, Marion Bartoli 5/1, Kaia Kanepi 13/2, Dominika Cibulkova 9/1, Nadia Petrova 12/1, Simon Halep 20/1, Yanina Wickmayer 18/1, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 33/1

Online Bookmaker Promotion
Online bookmaker Bet Victor run a great tennis betting promotion which is worth dipping into throughout the 2012 season. Place a match bet on any match from the main draw of an ATP or WTA event, and if your selection loses the match in a final set tie break, then you will get your lost stake back as a free bet. So this gives you some nice coverage on your tennis betting throughout the season, should your match selection lose in a cruel way in a final set tie break. Online bookmaker Bet Victor offer a free £25 bet for new customers registering an account. The bookie will match the value of your first stake on a new account, up to the maximum value of £25, with a free bet.

ATP Nice Tennis Betting Info
Well it will be a bit of a quieter week on the men’s circuit for tennis betting as we head towards the French Open next week. After two big tournaments in Italy and Spain on clay, the big guns will be resting up. Rafael Nadal continued his dominance on clay, beating Novak Djokovic for the second time on the red stuff this season already. We stay on the regular clay surface for our trip to Nice, France this week, for the Open de Nice Cote d’Azur. There is not a grand deal or top draw talent, but there are a few stand out names in the average field, which will make for some nice tennis betting options. Don’t forget the value of betting live in play as well at events like this.

ATP Nice Tennis Betting Defending Champion
Spain’s Nicolas Almagro triumphed here last season, in what was his 10th ATP Tour title. Like most Spaniards, Almagro is good on clay, and the world number 14 won the event at his first crack. So he will make a decent punt here, because note of the other runners in the field have much history history here, neither are they stand out quality players on the red stuff. So Spain could yet again rule over clay this week. Almagro won in Sao Paulo and then reached the final of Beunos Aires on clay, so he is pretty handy on the surface. He was having quite a solid season, but hasn’t been able to get past the round of sixteen in any of his last four events on clay. However, those four events were high quality fields, this one, not so much, so Almagro is worth a punt at 3/1 with BetFred.

ATP Nice Tennis Betting Favourite
Well, Nicolas Almagro also goes off as favourite in ATP Nice tennis betting, because of the reason’s stated above. He’s not the highest ranked player in the field, but his clay court preference should take him deep.

Other Contenders
Big American John Isner has decided to have a French Open warm up here. He has yet to get a title under his belt this season, and the world number 10 will fancy his chances here against an average field. Isner did have a great run at Indian Wells when he lost to Roger Federer in the final, and that was the best result of the season so far. Isner did also make it to the final of Houston as well, in a lower level tournament, and he lost there to Juan Monaco. So he has been knocking on the door and a win here would set his confidence up nicely for the French Open. Because of his height, his serve will be be his biggest weapon as usual. But there is more to his game than that, he has quite a deft touch when he comes into the net. Power is his prime weapon though and should take him at least to the semi’s here.

Gilles Simon returns to his city of birth this week. The Frenchman already has a title under his belt this season and he will make a decent bet here. Simon has won 10 ATP World Tour titles in his career and two of them have been in France. A huge tennis betting trend there which is hard to ignore. This is his debut at Nice though strangely enough. Like Almagro his performance has been dropped away over the last couple of events. But his most noticeable performances have come on clay this season, winning in Bucharest and hitting the semi finals of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo as well (losing out to Rafael Nadal). So this is the level of tournament where the Frenchman should go well.

Frenchman Gael Monfils will also be backed well by home support. Monfils is an energetic entertainer and reached the quarter final here in his only previous appearance back in 2010. He has been in two finals this year, both in Doha and Montpelier but he has been unable to convert as yet. He hasn’t been one of the busier players on the ATP Tour, so should be pretty fresh. His sheer athleticism keeps him touch with opponents and if you are looking for something maverick, then the world number thirteen is usually the one to turn too. Will enjoy being in front of the French crowd and playing up to them and therefore makes a decent punt.

Best Outside Bet
Not too deep of a field this week at all, Hard to pick a really decent outside bet from this quality of field. However, teenager Bernard Tomic is looking for his first Tour title and is usually gives his all out there and is an emerging talent (you may remember him from his Australian Open semi final against Andy Murray this year). He may be worth looking at, or perhaps Italian Fabio Fognini. He went to the final of Bucharest this season on clay, where he was beaten by Gilles Simon.

Latest ATP Nice Tennis Betting Prices at BetVictor
Nicolas Almagro 5/2, Gilles Simon 4/1, John Isner 3/1, Gael Monfils 7/1, JC Ferrero 14/1, Bernard Tomic 14/1, Thomaz Belluci 20/1, Fabio Fognini 25/1

Online Bookmaker Promotion
Online bookmaker Bet Victor run a great tennis betting promotion which is worth dipping into throughout the 2012 season. Place a match bet on any match from the main draw of an ATP or WTA event, and if your selection loses the match in a final set tie break, then you will get your lost stake back as a free bet. So this gives you some nice coverage on your tennis betting throughout the season, should your match selection lose in a cruel way in a final set tie break. Online bookmaker Bet Victor offer a free £25 bet for new customers registering an account. The bookie will match the value of your first stake on a new account, up to the maximum value of £25, with a free bet.

WTA Rome Tennis Betting Info
The Internazionali BNL d’Italia will be a welcome stop for nine of the world’s top ten at the very least, as the players move back on to familiar red clay. They were faced for the first time ever with blue clay in Madrid last week, a surface which proved to be a lot slicker, and therefore didn’t have the same kind of control as that of the usual clay surface. So the players will get some better grip underfoot this week and also, the slower surface does take some sting out of the big servers, and this is where the clay court specialists often come to light. It is just two weeks now until the start of the French Open.

WTA Rome Tennis Betting Defending Champion
Maria Sharapova was in tremendous form here last year. She hasn’t been terrific through her career at landing clay court titles, but she did it will style in Rome last year. She had her forehand working beautifully as she powered her way to her biggest clay court title. She beat Sam Stosur in the final here last year, and with a good season under her belt again this year, the Russian queen should go well. Sharapova has been knocking on the door of so many titles this season, and has only picked up one, and you have to feel a bit sorry for the Russian. She is the toughest player on the circuit and really her tennis has deserved more. She was steamrollered last week by Serena Williams in Madrid, but will avoid the American until the final this time around. Sam Stosur is waiting as a potential quarter final opponent, but generally a very, very good draw for Sharapova. It would be some defence, and she is trading at 4/1 with Bet365.

WTA Rome Tennis Betting Favourite
Serena Williams remains unbeaten on clay this season, after demolishing Maria Sharapova and world number one Victoria Azarenka on her way to the title (her second on clay this season). It was a tremendous showing of force and power, and she seemed to get a good enough purchase on the awkward blue clay. Because the blue clay was faster than red clay, she also had the power in her serve to call upon. That should be dialled back just a little this week, but she is overwhelming favourite to lift the title here at a price of 2/1 with Bet365. Williams is seeded ninth and sits in a quarter along with Agnieszka Radwanska and Caroline Wozniacki. A semi final clash against Azarenka could be on the cards in a repeat of Madrid’s final on Sunday. Williams is 22-2 for the season and is running at 13-0 on clay this season. Because Williams has such a strong head to head against Azarenka and Sharapova, her main challengers, things are pointing towards back to back titles for her.

Other Contenders
Victoria Azarenka, who had four titles under her belt this season, and reached the final of Madrid last week, is one of the best players in the game at the moment. She has rounded out to such a solid all-round star, it is likely that she will go close again, and Sunday’s defeat against Williams could push her on. The most likely to take out Serena Williams at the moment at least.

Could be worth eyeing up Sam Stosur as well, because the Aussie is a very flat and very good clay court player. She uses the court speed to match up well against bigger opponents and is suited to the conditions. She is one of the players who Williams seems to have trouble finding her feet against, and the scrappy Aussie could spring a surprise. She is in Sharapova’s quarter of the draw though, so going to have her work cut out for her.

Petra Kvitova may be looking at the draw and be fancying a good run. The Czechs star has been out of sorts for most of the season because of injury, but she hit back with a semi final appearance in Stuttgart, on clay, prior to a disappointing exit at Madrid. Still, we think that you can dismiss a lot of what happened in Madrid, and Kvitova’s quarter is open enough to have a very good run at the semi finals, where she could run into Sharapova.

Best Outside Bet
Both Stosur and Kvitova are good outside shots beyond Williams, Azarenka and Sharapova. Going to look a couple of Germans for longer outside bets though. Firstly, Julia Goerges, who we have seen pull out some massive clay court tournaments before could be worth looking at, so too Angelique Kerber who has found a whole new level to her game this season. Georges is out at 66/1, Kerber in at 14/1 with Bet365.

Latest WTA Rome Tennis Betting Prices at Bet365
Serena Williams 2/1, Azarenka 7/2, Sharapova 9/2, Kvitova 6/1, Stosur 14/1, Kerber 14/1, Na Li 22/1, Agnieszka Radwanska 28/1, Wozniacki 33/1

Online Bookmaker Promotion
Online bookmaker Bet Victor run a great tennis betting promotion which is worth dipping into throughout the 2012 season. Place a match bet on any match from the main draw of an ATP or WTA event, and if your selection loses the match in a final set tie break, then you will get your lost stake back as a free bet. So this gives you some nice coverage on your tennis betting throughout the season, should your match selection lose in a cruel way in a final set tie break. Online bookmaker Bet Victor offer a free £25 bet for new customers registering an account. The bookie will match the value of your first stake on a new account, up to the maximum value of £25, with a free bet.